The 1906 Arthur Gibb House - 14 East 55th Street

 

photograph by the author

Around 1870, a four-story, high-stoop brownstone was erected at 14 East 55th Street.  Midblock between Fifth and Madison Avenues, it was home to the Alexander Marsland family at the turn of the century.  In 1901 Marsland joined others in the neighborhood to petition the city for enamel street signs to be affixed to lamp posts.  The petition pointed out, "it is next to impossible for a stranger to find the names of many of the streets of the city unless he is fortunate enough to encounter a Policeman."

The architecturally outdated Marsland house and five of its abutting neighbors were purchased by the prolific real estate developers William Hall's Sons in 1904.  The firm began construction of a row of six opulent residences on the sites designed by the architectural firm of Clinton & Russell.  Each of the 23-foot-wide homes would be individual, yet would flow  harmoniously together.

Completed in 1906, 14 East 55th Street was faced in red brick above the limestone-clad ground floor.  Designed in the American basement plan, the entrance was just a few steps above the sidewalk.  The fifth floor took the form of a stylish, slate-shingled mansard punctured by two dormers.  An advertisement in August 1906 noted it was "Ready for Occupancy," and read:

New English Basement Dwelling.  Passenger elevator, steam heat, and hot water from street.  Restricted private house location on front, rear and sides.

The mention of the "restricted" location referred to the prohibition of any commercial activities within the surrounding blocks.

The Hall brothers sold 14 East 55th Street to Lila Gilbert, the wife of millionaire H. Bramhall Gilbert.  She had no intentions of living here, having a fine mansion at 826 Fifth Avenue.  It was, instead an investment.  But after leasing it a few years, she sold what The New York Times called "a fine residence" in August 1909 to Arthur and Emily M. Gibb.

Gibb was born in Brooklyn in 1858.  Following his graduation from Adelphi College, he worked for his father's business, Mills & Gibb, until 1897 when he became a partner in the Brooklyn Department store, Frederick Loeser & Co.  By the time he and Emily purchased 14 East 55th Street, he was its head.

Three of the men in Arthur Gibb's family had recently been the victims of a string of rapid-fire deaths.  His brother Howard died in Paris in June 1905; two months later, Gibb's father, John, died at his summer home in Islip, New York; and on July 22 1906 John Richmond Gibb (who was head of Frederick Loeser & Co. at the time) died at the age of 47.  Arthur was left with one surviving brother, Walter, who was also involved with the department store.

Following the death of John Richmond Gibb, Arthur not only took over his position at Frederick Loeser & Co., but his wife.  Almost immediately after the end of her mourning period, Emily married Arthur in 1908.  She brought two daughters, Dorothy and Ruth, and a son John, from her previous marriage to 14 East 55th Street.  The Gibbs summer home was in Glen Cove, New York.  

The purchase of the house came just in time for Dorothy's debut.  On December 15, 1909, The New York Times reported that Emily had given a reception to introduce her.  In the receiving line were socially recognizable names like Atterbury, Havemeyer, and Granville.  The article noted, "There was a dinner for the receiving party after the reception, following which the young people went to Miss Brown's theatre party at Daly's Theatre."

At the time of the event, Arthur Gibbs was not well.  Suffering from kidney disease, he had recently turned over the operations of Frederick Loeser & Co. to his brother Walter.  In January 1911 he was admitted to a private sanitarium on West 61st Street where he underwent an operation on January 11.  The Sun reported, "it was thought that he would recover, but he failed to rally."  The 53-year-old died four days later.  

The New-York Tribune reported that he left an estate of "more than $2,000,000."  (That would translate to about $64 million in 2023).  Emily received the Manhattan and Glen Cove residences and $108,509 outright (approximately $3.45 million today).

Although in mourning, the Gibbs women still needed to be properly coiffed.  On March 3, 1911, Emily accompanied Dorothy to a hair salon.  The New York Times said that Emily "stood near her while the hair-dresser worked."  Abruptly everything went wrong.  The article related, "The dresser used an electrical apparatus.  Suddenly there was a sharp explosion and a spark darted from the machine into Miss Gibb's hair.  In a moment her hair burst into flame."

Dorothy "cried out in pain" and tried to beat the flames out with her hands.  The panicked hairdresser ran around the room trying to find something to use to extinguish Dorothy's burning pate.  Only Emily was level-headed enough to act.  She whipped off her fur stole and threw it over Dorothy's head, "muffling the flames beneath it and beating them out."

The New York Times said "both mother and daughter were hysterical" and initially it was feared that Dorothy had been severely injured.  She and Emily were driven in an automobile to New York Hospital where it was discerned that she suffered only minor burns, although "much of her hair had been burned away."  She was kept in the hospital for several days.  Five days after the incident The New York Times noted, "Her mother was still ill from the shock at her home yesterday."

On January 18, 1914, The Sun reported, "Invitations will soon be sent out for the wedding of Miss Ruth Gibb...to Harold W. Carthart of this city, in St. Thomas's Church on February 19."  The New York Times added, "Miss Dorothy Gibb will be her sister's maid of honor."

John Richmond Gibb gave his sister away and after the fashionable ceremony, Emily hosted a reception in the East 55th Street house for which, according to The New York Times, "700 invitations were sent out."  The article added that Emily, "who was in the receiving party, was in a white moiré gown, topped by a black tulle trimmed hat."

A year later, almost to the day, the process was repeated.  On January 24, 1915 Dorothy married Bache McEvers Whitlock in St. Thomas's Church "in the presence of a large gathering," according to The Sun.  Once again, John Gibb escorted his sister down the aisle.  The article said, "Immediately after the ceremony there was a reception at the home of the bride's mother, 14 East Fifty-fifth street."  

At the time of Dorothy's wedding, the neighborhood around 14 East 55th Street was by no means any longer "restricted."  Millionaires were rapidly abandoning the area below 59th Street and their mansions were being razed or converted for business.  

By 1924, the ground floor of the Gibb house had been converted to the Maybell Manning dress shop.  An advertisement in May that year touted, "Great reduction in charming afternoon and evening creations.  Personal inspection invited."

Architect Louis A. Kornum was commissioned to remodel the first two floors in 1926.  A limestone frame now engulfed two stories of vast show windows.  The exterior of the upper floors remained unchanged.  

Maybell Manning remained into the early Depression years.  A subsequent renovation completed in 1938 resulted in two apartments each on the upper floors.  Where Maybell Manning had operated, the French fashion house of Henry a la Pensee now sold glamorous gowns and dresses.

Although its name was still emblazoned above the first floor, Henry a la Pensee had moved out in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services

In 1940 two sets of newlyweds moved into apartments here.  The first were Katherryn Hernan, a professional model, who married chemist Dr. Eugene McCauliff in St. Patrick's Cathedral in April.  The groom of the second couple had a distinct connection to the house.  Bache McEvers Whitlock, Jr. was the son of Dorothy Gibb and Bache Whitlock.  He married Philbin Heath on December 22, 1940.  The Nassau Daily Review-Standard said, "After a wedding trip to Palm Beach, Fla., the couple will be at home at 14 East 55th st., New York City."

photo by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

By 1946 the Gould Galleries occupied the store space.  The upscale firm sold American and foreign paintings.  In the 1970s and '80s, the society beauty salon of Pipino-Buccheri was here.  Run by Richard Buccheri and Marc Pipino, the salon was visited by The New York Times journalist Alexandra Penney in November 1977.  She wrote, "I was pleased by such touches as au courant Italian leather furniture."

In July 2013 Vivienne Westwood purchased 14 East 55th Street.  The fashion designer had established her business in London in 1971 and now had shops in Los Angles, Honolulu, and Paris.   A renovation to the storefront included a new marquee, and the brick was painted.  The upper floors were converted to two duplex apartments.

photographs by the author

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The 1915 Brooks Brothers Building - 346 Madison Avenue

 

Henry Sands Brooks opened his haberdashery shop on April 7, 1818.  Following his death in 1833, Henry Jr. headed the business until 1850, when his sons, Elisha, Edward, Daniel and John took the reins.  The brothers renamed it Brooks Brothers.  Seven years later they moved northward from Catherine Street to the northeast corner of Broadway and Grand Street.  By then Brook Brothers catered to an exclusive clientele.  The suit President Abraham Lincoln wore to Ford’s Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865, for example, had been purchased at this store.

On June 13, 1914, the Real Estate Record & Guide hinted that Brooks Brothers was moving from its fourth location.  "The real estate market was enlivened this week by several transactions, the most prominent involving a Madison avenue and 44th street corner, where by a prominent downtown clothing establishment, for thirty years at Broadway and 22d street, joins the growing colony in the neighborhood of Grand Central Terminal."

Within a week ground had been broken for Brooks Brothers's new 10-story headquarters and store, designed by La Farge & Morris with Clinton & Russell.  The Record & Guide said, "The facade has been designed in a dignified yet simple manner in the style of the Italian Renaissance and which will harmonize beautifully with the Hotel Biltmore, diagonally opposite and the new Yale Club being erected on Vanderbilt avenue."  The structure would cost $750,000 to construct (about $22.7 million in 2023), not including the custom made fixtures, counters and lighting.  Not mentioned in the article were the specifications for "a shower bath" for the use of executive staff.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

The building's tripartite design included a three-story stone base, a subdued red brick mid-section, and a show-stopping, two-story top section of double-height arched openings framed in stone and separated by Corinthian pilasters.  The architects placed the main entrance on 44th Street, where two-story engaged columns upheld a massive entablature and cornice.  

A window directly above the Renaissance style Madison Avenue entrance was framed in intricate carvings that included the Brooks Brothers insignia of the Golden Fleece, used by the firm since 1850.

Like any proper haberdashery, Brooks Brothers offered the accessories and other miscellaneous items gentlemen would need.  Its tobacco department sold the Brooks Brothers brand "346," named for the Madison Avenue address.  The firm's button-down collar shirts had been marketed under the Polo name since around 1902.  (Coincidentally [or not], in 1964 25-year-old Ralph Lauren, recently discharged from the US Army, took a job here as a clerk.)

When the firm erected its new headquarters, its president was Francis Guerin Lloyd, who also served as the vice-president of the United States Savings Bank.  Conservative, proper, and wealthy, he lived in an art-filled Bernardsville, New Jersey estate where he raised Scottish Terriers.  He had worked for the firm since the age of 14, was made a partner in 1879, and became senior partner upon the death of John E. Brooks in 1896.

Staunchly patriotic, he was one of the prominent New Yorkers chosen to welcome home returning troops in January 1919.  It was an honor that seven of those men, including Lloyd, refused when they discovered that William Randolph Hearst was also on the list.

Hearst had rankled many Americans by vilifying the British Empire in his publications, and steadfastly opposing the U.S. entry into the war.  Lloyd's letter of refusal echoed the sentiments of others, saying in part:

Mr. Hearst's attitude, as expressed by the newspapers which he controls, toward our entrance into the war and toward our chief ally has been too notoriously subversive of all that I regard as the best ideals and spirit of the United States to permit me to service with him on a committee to welcome the returning troops.

The following year, on October 6, 1920, Francis Guerin Lloyd left his Bernardsville home, headed for the office.  He never made it.  The 72-year-old died on the way, presumably the victim of a heart attack.

Lloyd's insistence on quality and conservative dress resulted in jackets being displayed on tables inside-out.  The practice enabled customers to readily see the workmanship involved in the goods.  That ended in 1966, according to Town & Country magazine, when HRH Prince Philip (on a trip to New York without his wife) visited the Madison Avenue store and commented that the tables looked "untidy."

At the time of the Prince's remark, the name Brooks Brothers had been synonymous with quality in men's apparel for decades.  Author F. Scott Fitzgerald "dressed his star-crossed heroes in Brooks suits," pointed out The New York Times journalist Gilbert Millstein in 1976.  And writer John O'Hara "took the measure of his protagonists by the cut of their clothing (the good guys went to Brooks; the heels wore padded shoulders and severely pegged pants)."  Author Mary McCarty titled one of her most famous short stories "The Man in The Brooks Brothers Suit."  

Millstein noted that over the years Brooks Brothers had dressed "Astors, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, five generations of Morgans and Clark Gable."  Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson all wore Brooks Brothers suits when they took the oath of office.   And when President Gerald Ford met Emperor Hirohito in Tokyo in 1975, he wore a morning coat and ascot from Brooks Brothers.

photo by Karsten Moran for The New York Times, July 2020

But back home in America, times were changing in men's fashion.  Writing in The New York Times in May 8, 1976, Lawrence Van Gelder began an article saying, "Brooks Brothers, one of the nation's venerable bastions of sartorial conservatism, is phasing out all custom tailoring."  Brooks Brothers president Frank T. Reilly explained that there was simply a "declining demand" for custom-made suits.  The decision shocked many customers, who mourned the end of the 158-year tradition.  Gilbert Millstein said, "my reaction (I will try not to exaggerate) was one of disjointure: a slight dizziness, a sense of being in Cleveland, a feeling of malaise of the kind induced by discovering that one has left home in one blue sock and one black."

The stately 44th Street entrance.

The end of custom suits was a hint of things to come.  America's embrace of casual business attire, the rise of affordable brands like Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and J. Crew, and finally the onslaught of COVID, brought the venerable firm to its knees.

In July 2020 Brooks Brothers filed for bankruptcy.  Lisa Birnbach, author of the 2010 True Prep, wrote, "Maybe we should blame the bankruptcy on the perception that one buys suits at Brooks Brothers, and who wears a suit anymore?  I get that.  Everyone is wearing sweatpants or ugly shorts with a button-down shirt and tie for Zoom meetings."

In January the following year the property was placed on the market, the listing noting the site could be used for an office or residential tower.  In the meantime, in February 2022 the newly formed Piazza Italia rented space in the building.  Partner Dennis Ulrich described it as a "collective office and network concept that will facilitate the ability of Italian companies to grow both their business and brand awareness in North America."  In December, Bindi, an Italian dessert company, opened a holiday pop-up store in the ground floor, offering panettone, pandora and ice cream.

Office space on the upper floors and the main showroom floor continued to be offered for lease.

photographs by the author

many thanks to reader Andrew Cronson for requesting this post

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The Lost Charles W. Clinton House - 39 East 57th Street

 

image from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

In 1894 Charles William Clinton partnered with William Hamilton Russell to form the architectural firm of Clinton & Russell.  The 52-year-old Clinton had begun his career in the office of esteemed architect Richard Upjohn and had had been practicing on his own since 1858.  One of his most important commissions was the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue.

Twelve years before the architects opened their office, David Frankenberg had purchased the four-story brownstone house at 39 East 57th Street on November 3, 1882.  He was the partner of Benjamin Altman in the B. Altman & Co. drygoods store.  The $55,000 he paid Joseph Morris for the property ($1.5 million in 2023 terms) reflected the upscale tenor of the neighborhood.  On October 21, 1899 the Record & Guide reported that Frankenberg had sold the high-stooped house to "Emily De S., wife of Chas. W. Clinton."  

Among affluent families, it was common for the title of real property to be placed in the wife's name.  Clinton had married Emily de Silver Gorsuch on August 25, 1886.  The couple had two children, Charles Kenneth and Margery Hamilton.  (Sadly, a third child, De Witt, had died in 1896 at the age of three.)

The highly recognized architect and his wife did not intend to move into an architecturally passé brownstone.   On March 16, 1900 Clinton & Russell filed plans for extensive renovations.  One can assume that Charles Clinton took the reins in the design.

With the stoop removed, the bowed facade of the lower three floors extended to the property line.  A stone balcony introduced the two-story mid-section, which was crowned by another stone balustrade.  The fifth floor took the form of a steep, slate-shingled mansard with two pedimented dormers.

When the family moved into the remodeled house, Margery was 14 years old and Charles Kenneth was 12.  The Clintons, like all wealthy New Yorkers, spent their summers away from the city.  On August 12, 1902, for instance, the New York Herald reported, "Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Clinton, of No. 39 East Fifth-seventh street, and their family are at Black Rock, Conn."

That would change in 1909 when their new summer home, Century, in Tuxedo Park was completed.  As he had done in Manhattan, Clinton completely remodeled an existing structure.  He purchased a shingle style mansion designed by Bruce Price in 1886, and remodeled it as a romantic neo-Tudor fantasy.

Emily entertained regularly, but apparently not lavishly, at both homes.  Newspaper coverage was succinct, as on January 27, 1901 when the New York Herald announced, "Mrs. Charles W. Clinton will give a reception at No. 39 East Fifty-seventh street on Wednesday next," and on March 30, 1907 when The New York Times noted, "Mrs. Charles W. Clinton will entertain with bridge on the afternoon of Wednesday, April 10, at 39 East Fifty-seventh Street."  On February 21, 1904, the New York Herald reported, "Mrs. Charles W. Clinton...will not receive on Mondays during Lent."

On December 1, 1910, Charles William Clinton died in the 57th Street house at the age of 72.  In reporting on his death, the New-York Tribune mentioned, "His whole life was devoted to his chosen profession.  Among the best known examples of his work are the Mutual Life Insurance building, the 7th Regiment armory, the Bank of America, Mechanics Bank, and the Continental Insurance Company."

Still in mourning, Emily and her daughter left the 57th Street house for a period.  On June 1, 1911 The Evening Telegram reported, "Mrs. Charles W. Clinton and Miss Emily [sic] Clinton, of No. 39 East Fifty-seventh street, will leave this city Saturday aboard the Baltic for Europe, where they intend staying until the autumn.  Upon their return in the autumn they will go to Tuxedo."  Charles, who was now 22-years-old and studying at Harvard, remained behind.

Following his graduation in 1912, Charles joined his mother and sister in traveling.  On September 27, 1912, The New York Times reported, "Mrs. Charles W. Clinton and her daughter, Miss Margery Clinton, and son, Charles Kenneth Clinton, are closing their house in Tuxedo, and will sail on Oct. 5 on the Carmania, to pass the Winter in Paris."  

Like his father, Charles became a member of exclusive men's social clubs, the Union, Tuxedo and Harvard clubs among them.  On August 10, 1915 the New York Sun reported his engagement to Margery Oakes Rand, the daughter of Mrs. Herbert Ten Broeck Jacquelin Rand.  

Following their marriage, the newlyweds moved into the East 57th Street house.  On March 13, 1917, The Sun wrote, "Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kenneth Clinton are receiving congratulations on the birth of a daughter recently at their home, 39 East Fifty-seventh street."

With America's entry into World War I, Charles joined the Army, rising to the rank of captain.  Margery did her part by focusing on relief work.  She traveled abroad "where she was a canteen and Red Cross worker," according to the New York Herald.  It was possibly in Europe that she met United States Navy Commander Lamar R. Leahy.

On August 5, 1919, the New York Herald reported that Emily Clinton had announced Margery's and Lamar's engagement.  The article noted that Margery was "well known in society in New York and Tuxedo Park, N. Y., since her debut a few years ago."  The wedding on September 17, 1919, was a military affair.  Charles, in uniform, gave his sister away.  The ushers, too, were all in military uniform.  The New-York Tribune noted, "After their wedding trip Commander Leahy and his bride will live at 449 Park Avenue."

At the time of the wedding, the neighborhood around 39 East 57th Street was no longer one of private mansions, as commercial buildings increasingly engulfed the district.  Even before the ceremony, Emily Clinton signed a lease for an apartment in the Mayfair, the same building where her daughter and new son-in-law would be living.

Five months earlier, Emily had leased the 57th Street mansion to H. A. Van Winsum and J. Weymer, British antiques dealers.  On April 23 The Sun reported, "The building will be altered by installing show windows on the lower floor."

House & Garden magazine, February 1920 (copyright expired)

The upper floors of the former Clinton mansion were leased as upscale apartments.  Lee Maidment Hurd and his wife lived here in November 1922, when they held a reception to introduce their daughter Leona to society.

The ground floor became home to the Albert Du Vannes art gallery in 1924.  The firm, which dealt in Old Masters and modern paintings, also provided authentication services, noting "We identify meritorious paintings and give correct attribution when possible.  Expert restoring, relining, and cleaning of pictures."  

Arts & Decoration magazine, December 1924 (copyright expired)

Although Emily Clinton would survive until 1942, she had transferred title to the 57th Street building to Margery by 1928.  That year Margery leased her childhood home to the 45 East Fifty-seventh Street Company "for a term of sixty-three years," according to the New York Evening Post on December 20.  The article noted that the firm had been purchasing the surrounding properties.

The Clinton mansion, along with the other structures, were demolished to make way for the masterful Art Deco Fuller Building, designed by Walker & Gillette, which took the address of 41 East 57th Street.

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The Wm. Augustus Read Mansion - 4 East 62nd Street

 

On June 8, 1881 James R. Breen and Alfred G. Nason sold their just completed brownstone house at No. 4 East 62nd Street to Henry Albertson Van Zo Post.  Breen & Nason were not only the developers, but the architects of the four-story, 27-food wide mansion.  The sumptuousness of the residence was reflecting in the sale price--the equivalent of $1.86 million today.

Born in May 1832, Post came from an old Knickerbocker family.  An engineer, the year he purchased No. 4 East 62nd Street he founded the Railroad Equipment Company, which manufactured locomotives and train cars and parts.  He was also a partner in the banking firm of Post, Martin & Co.

Post's first wife had died in 1860 and he was now married to the former Caroline Burnet McLean.  He had two daughters from his first marriage, and six more children with Caroline (one, Maud Evelyn, died in infancy).  One more child, Henry Burnet Post, would be born in 1885.

Son Edwin Main Post was 22-years-old in 1892 when The Sun announced, "A very pretty wedding to occur at the very opening of the month of roses will be at Tuxedo Park, when Miss Emily Bruce Price and Mr. Edwin Main Post will be married."   The ceremony took place in the Price's summer residence.  Two of Manhattan's wealthiest young bachelors were among Edwin's ushers, Gordon Norrie and Theodore A. Havemeyer.  The bride would go on to become an nationally recognized authority on etiquette as Emily Post.

Caroline was actively involved in the Suffragist Movement and on April 24, 1894 she hosted a "parlor meeting" in the 62nd Street house.  Her guest speaker was Harriet Stanton Blanche, the daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.   In her comments that afternoon she said, "These Brooklyn ladies who are protesting against woman suffrage must be dreaming."

The parlor was the setting of daughter Caroline Beatrice's wedding to Regis Henri Post the following year, on March 5.  The couple were distant cousins.   Regis Post entered politics and they would live for years in Puerto Rico after President Theodore Roosevelt first appointed him Auditor of Puerto Rico and later Governor.

On March 20, 1897 The Record & Guide reported that Henry A. V. Post sold "the valuable four-story stone front dwelling" to William Augustus Read.  It was indeed valuable, The New York Times placing the sale price "at between $90,000 and $100,000."  The lower amount would be equal to about $2.86 million today, nearly double what Post had originally paid.

Before moving in Read commissioned the architectural firm of Clinton & Russell to completely remodel the house.  The stoop and front were removed, and a gleaming limestone façade replaced the outdated brownstone.  Designed in the neo-Italian

Renaissance style, the sedate design featured arched pediments over the fourth floor windows and massive carved lions' heads between the top floor openings.  French doors at 

second floor opened onto an iron-railed balcony.

American Architect & Building News, June 2, 1900 (copyright expired)

A banker, Read was a partner in Vermilye & Co. at the time.  Born on May 20, 1858, like Henry Post he came from an old American family, his ancestor William Read arriving in Massachusetts in 1635.  

Read's wife, the former Caroline Hicks Seaman, also had deep American roots and was a member of the National Society of Colonial Dames.  When the couple moved in they a one-year old, Duncan Hickshad, and twin toddler boys, William Jr. and Curtis Seaman.   Shortly after moving in another son, Russell Bartow, was born.  He arrived in 1898 and was quickly followed by Caroline Hicks the in 1899.

Caroline Read with her twins in 1895.  original source unknown

The Read family kept expanding.  Bancroft was born in 1901, but tragically died in infancy, followed by Bayard Whitney in 1902, Mary Elizabeth 1904,  and Kenneth Bancroft in 1906.  Sadly, Kenneth died the same year.

The mansion's library was filled with Read's exceptional collection.  A long-time member of the Grolier Club, American Biography said he was "well known as a discriminating collector of manuscripts, rare editions of books and fine bindings, and he possessed a library of unusual value, both by reason of the character of the books and manuscripts, and the artistic beauty of the bindings in which they were preserved."

The family's country estate, Hill Crest, was in Purchase, New York.  They, nevertheless, spent time in other fashionable summer resorts.  In 1900, for instance, they leased the Kneeland Cottage in Lenox, Massachusetts.

In 1904, after being with Vermilye & Company for nearly three decades, Read founded the banking firm of William A. Read & Co.  The firm specialized in bonds, American Biography noting that Read "had a rare knowledge of the values of securities and his advice was sought by many individual and corporate investors."

The number of Read children belied the fact that wealthy couples slept in separate rooms.  It was a situation that tested Caroline's mettle in the early morning hours of February 14, 1907.  At around 1:00 she was awakened by a noise and called out, "Is that you, Will?"  Getting no answer she got out of bed and opened the bathroom door.  The New York Times reported, "For a moment she was able to see nothing.  Then gradually she made out the form of a man clinging to the upper frame of the window."

A more faint-hearted woman might have screamed, or even fainted.  But Caroline was irately offended.  "What do you want?" she demanded.  The intruder said, "I'm just looking for a place to sleep and something to eat."

Caroline walked directly to the burglar alarm in her bedroom and pulled the switch, and then went to William's room.  By then the would-be burglar had made his escape.  Before long East 62nd Street was teeming with police.  The feisty socialite had prevented a burglary, although the perpetrator was never found.

Nevertheless, William apparently did not take the close call lightly.   Less than two months later, on April 10, The City Record said he had applied for the appointment of "Mr. Ohlson as a Special Patrolman, with permission to carry a pistol."

William A. Read fell ill on March 27, 1916 and died in the 62nd Street mansion a week later, on April 7.   Caroline and the unmarried children continued to live in the mansion.

With the outbreak of World War I Caroline's four sons enlisted in the United States Navy's aviation service.  In 1918 Curtis and Russell Bartow were in France, Duncan was a flight instructor in the Government's aviation school in Florida, and William was training at the Boston Tech Flying School.  

On March 1, 1918 the New-York Tribune reported, "When the authorities at Washington learn the truth, Mrs. William Augustus Read, of 4 East Sixty-second Street, will then learn whether or not her son, Ensign Curtis F. Read, of Yale, '17, lies buried in France or is still flying with the United States naval aviation forces in foreign water."  The confusion was not cleared up until May when Brooklyn Life reported that Curtis had been killed "in an air flight near the Belgian coast."  The article noted, "The service flag which flies over the door of Mrs. Read's residence...carries stars for three more sons--all in aviation work."

Daughter Caroline Hicks Read was active in "canteen work" during the war.  That was possibly how she met Navy aviator Lt. Archibald G. McIlwaine II.  Caroline's introduction to society occurred in the 1919-1920 winter season, and was quickly followed by her mother's announcing the couple's engagement on March 22, 1920.

Russell Bartow Read, now a doctor, was married to socialite and "Junior Leaguer" Hope Williams the following year.  The newlyweds lived at No. 4 East 62nd with Caroline.   In 1927 Hope did what was the unthinkable among the high society set--she tried her hand at acting.  And she was a hit.  The Daily News said "she made her Broadway debut in support of Madge Kennedy in 'Paris Bound,' and won such high praise she was immediately scheduled for stardom."

Hope Williams, from the collection of the Library of Congress. 

Success on the stage did not translate to harmony at home.  On December 8, 1928 the Daily News reported, "The Rialto has become the dividing line in another society romance."  The article noted after Hope achieved theatrical fame, "Matrimony rapidly faded into the background."  Only months after first stepping foot on the stage, Hope obtained a divorce.

Caroline Read entered the Presbyterian Hospital in the spring of 1929 for an operation.  She died there on May 1 at the age of 60.   The mansion was combined internally with No. 6 East 62nd Street in 1931 by architect John Hamlin for the York Club.  The renovations, completed in 1932, resulted in what the Department of Buildings deemed a "residence club with sleeping accommodations."  It noted that the properties were "separate buildings under the same ownership."

6 East 62nd Street.

The club was the scene of weddings, dinners and social events throughout the coming decades.  On November 24, 1940, for instance, The New York Times reported on the coming "tea dance to be given Dec. 2 at the York Club...in aid of the British-American Ambulance Corps."  And on June 20, 1948 the newspaper announced, "The Herb Society of America, with headquarters at the York Club, 4 East Sixty-second Street, will hold its annual meeting tomorrow."

In 1985 the combined houses were converted to sprawling duplex apartments known as Curzon House.  A two-bedroom apartment in 1991 rented for $8,500 per month--more in the neighborhood of $16,000 today.   Outwardly, little has changed to either mansion.

photographs by the author

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The Lillian S. Thomas Dodge House - 6 East 67th Street

In 1880 the prolific architect James E. Ware designed three matching rowhouses for real estate developer Ira E. Doying at what was then numbered 4 through 8 East 67th Street.  Completed the following year, the brick-faced homes rose four stories above high English basements.  Designed in the Queen Anne style, they featured a two-story angled bay and grouped openings at the fourth floor which morphed into a pointed gable.  At 27-feet wide, the homes were intended for well-to-do owners.  In September 1882 Doying sold No. 4 to Victory Henry Rothschild for $90,000--more than $2.3 million today.  

The Rothschild house can be glimpsed at the far right side of this photo.   Architectural Record 1904 (copyright expired)

Rothschild (who preferred to go by his first initial and second name) was born in 1835 in Germany, one of seven children.  He arrived in America in 1852 at the age of 17 and headed to Oakland, California.  The young man's business sense took him to the Midwest and the South until the Civil War prompted him to move to New York City.  His brother Marx came from Germany and the pair partnered in Rothschild Brothers, which manufactured "negligee shirts."  By now the firm was named V. Henry Rothschild & Co.

V. Henry and his wife, the former Josephine Wolf, had five children, Irene, Victor Sidney, Gertrude, Constance Lily and Clarence.  America's Successful Men of Affairs called the 67th Street house "handsomely appointed" and noted that Rothschild's "fine library, and collection of paintings bear witness to his artistic tastes."

V. Henry Rothschild, from America's Successful men of Affairs, 1896 (copyright expired)

It was not long after moving in that Rothschilds flexed those artistic tastes further by doing major redecorating.  On August 23, 1884 The Record & Guide reported "Mr. V. Henry Rothschild is about to have elaborate interior decorations made to the front parlor of his house, No. 4 East Sixty-seventh street, in the Louis XVI style, on which he will expend some $6,000."   The owners had hired well-known architect Alfred Zucker to make the renovations, which cost the equivalent of just over $160,000 today.

America's Successful Men of Affairs said "Mr. Rothschild is essentially a home man and has never been what is generally called a club man.  He has, however, long been a member of the Harmonie and Players' clubs and the Board of Trade & Transportation."  

The Harmonie Club was a social organization for wealthy Jewish men.  Because Jews were not accepted into the mainstream clubs, they formed their own.  Another such club was the Progress Club, of which Marx Rothschild was a member.

Marx was there on the evening of March 8, 1904 when he suffered a heart attack.  The New York Times reported "He lived with his daughter, Mrs. Mark J. Straus, at 77 East Eighty-ninth Street, but it was not deemed prudent to carry him so far after he was stricken."  He was brought, instead, to his brother's home.  He died there the following morning."

Jewish families--no matter how wealthy--were also not included among the "cottagers" of Newport and other fashionable summer resorts.  So, again, they established their own enclaves.  Among them was Long Branch, New Jersey where the Rothschilds were visible among summer society.  V. Henry, as well, erected what were called the "Rothschild Cottages" there.

On May 17, 1911 the Long Branch Daily Record reported that Rothschild had died in the 67th Street house.  It mentioned his treatment of his employees (of which there were now about 7,000) by erecting "communal settlements" for them near the two large factories in New Jersey and New York State.  The article added "In philanthropic work Mr. Rothschild took an active interest...He was one of the founders of the Mount Sinai Hospital and a director of the Montefiore Home."

Rothschild's estate was reported at nearly $3.25 million in today's money.  Josephine received about one-third of that amount, but was "requested to make gifts to Mount Sinai Hospital and the Montefiore Home in which her husband was interested," according to The Sun.

Josephine remained in the 67th Street house until her death on April 27, 1917.  The family retained possession for a few years.  Then a two-day public auction of the contents of the house was held on June 17 and 18, 1921.  The auction listing noted "Massive furnishings, cabinets, bronzes, complete massive cut-brass fenders and andirons, paintings by noted artists, draperies, rare works of art."

The house to the left retains its 1881 appearance.

The following year, on March 25, 1922, the Record & Guide reported that "Mrs. Lillian S. Thomas has purchased the house," noting that among her millionaire neighbors were Elbert H. Gary, chairman of the board of the United States Steel Corporation, and George J. Gould.

Born Lillian Sefton, Lillian had begun her career on the stage.  She married Vincent Thomas in 1905.  One of her friends, Margaret Ayer, was the daughter of Harriet Hubbard Ayer, the founder of a women's "toilet preparations" firm.  Harriet died in 1903 and Lillian now urged her new husband to purchase the rights to the the name.  The pair embarked on expanding the business and, following Thomas's death in 1918, Lillian managed to make it one of world's major cosmetic companies. 

Before moving into the 67th Street house she had the architectural firm of Clinton & Russell remodel it.  They removed the stoop, pulled the facade nearly to the property line, and produced a 1920's take on Beaux Arts--a style that had essentially fallen from favor a generation earlier.  But Clinton & Russell's treatment of the style was much more restrained than the fussy, garland-draped confections of the turn of the century.  

The ground floor was nearly unadorned.  Its centered entrance given a simple frame over which was a carved cartouche.  Pierced stonework below two of the second floor windows pretended to be balustrades.  Only at this level were there ornamental keystones.  The third and fourth floor openings wore iron railings and the fifth floor took the form of a copper mansard with three stone dormers.

By the time the renovations were completed in 1923 Lillian had remarried.  Her husband was Robert Leftwich Dodge, described by The New York Times as "a graduate of the Beaux Arts in Paris [who] spent most of his life abroad."  It added "His stained-glass paintings are to be found in the Library of Congress and many other public buildings, and at Vassar College."  Living with them was Lillian's daughter, Mary Sefton Thomas.

Lillian had expanded into a full line of women's cosmetics.  In 1922 she applied for the trademarks Odo-R-Off, a deodorant, and LaJoconde, the brand name of "toilet creams and toilet powders."

That same year she and Robert gave Clinton & Russell a second project--the design of their country home on a 86-acre estate to be called Sefton Manor on the North Shore of Long Island.

Sefton Manor (original source unknown)

In 1930 developer Michael E. Paterno demolished the Fifth Avenue mansions at the southeast corner of 67^th Street and erected an apartment building.  He placed the entrance on the side street rather than the avenue.  After a lengthy court case, he won the right to the address No. 2 East 67^th Street—which meant that the house at No. 2 became No. 4; and the change of addresses dominoed down the block.  The Dodges' stationery and cards now read No. 6 East 67^th Street.

That same year Lillian found herself in hot water with U. S. Customs.  She and Robert had sailed to Europe that January, returning on the Ile de France in April with 12 trunks and two crates.   They declared $17,000 value on the contents.  But agents opened each of the trunks and crates and disagreed on the valuation.

On April 18, 1930 The Brooklyn Daily Times ran a front-page headline: "Mrs. R. L. Dodge Faces Huge Fine In Customs Case."  The article said "Officials engaged in examining the seized property say the estimate placing the value at $200,000 'is conservative.'"  Lillian had not been shopping only for gowns.  The article said that "jewelry filled two large suitcases."  It included "a waist length diamond necklace with diamond tassels, many diamond and emerald watches, bracelets, rings, pendants and brooches."

Having her new things held up in Customs was a potential problem for Lillian.  "Mrs. Dodge is quoted by Customs officials as saying she was willing to pay the fine provided she could have the goods in time to use at parties during the Easter season."  The staggering fine was reported at between $160,000 to $200,000--upwards to more than $3 million today.

The Dodges also maintained a home in Paris.  All three residences were routinely the scenes of lavish entertainments.  But the Long Island mansion would be the setting of an especially important event in 1932.  On May 7 the New York Evening Post reported "Mr. and Mrs. Robert Leftwich Dodge of 6 East Sixty-seventh Street, Sefton Manor, Mill Neck, Long Island, and Paris, announce the engagement of Miss Mary Sefton Thomas to Mr. Frans Blom."  It added "The wedding will take place at the Mill Neck country home of Mr. and Mrs. Dodge about the middle of June."

The Dodges were at Sefton Manor on July 16, 1940 when Robert died at the age of 68 "after a long illness," as reported by a newspaper.  The New York Times noted "Mr. Dodge painted murals in the Library of Congress in Washington and in the administration building of the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago.  Examples of his work in stained glass are to be found in many churches and in the chapel of Vassar College."

Lillian sold No. 6 in 1945 and within four years it became the Czechoslovakian Mission to the United Nations.  In 1962 the house was shared as the Missions of Byelorussia and Ukraine, and two years later it was home to the Cuban Mission.

The strong resentment of Cuban ex-patriots and Communists resulted in sometimes violent protests outside the United Nations and in front of the Cuban Mission.  The arrival of  Major Ernesto Che Guevara at the U.N. on December 11, 1964 was met by an anti-Communist demonstration.  It was accompanied by a 3.5-inch bazooka shell from being fired at the United Nations Headquarters.

The New York Times reported "Later, eight demonstrators, who described themselves as Cuban exiles, showed up at the Cuba mission at 6 East Sixty-Seventh Street.  They carried signs protesting the appearance of Major Guevara at the United Nations."  Police barricaded both sides of 67th Street and part of Fifth Avenue.

The Dodge house today is home to the Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the United Nations.  Other than replacement windows, it looks outwardly little different that it did immediately following its remarkable make-over in 1923.

photographs by the author
many thanks to Luci Murphy for suggesting this post